I think the name Taste Time is a great name especially for this particular tea because I can feel the age and the transformation from one or two years old to present year. The tea starts off being bold, almost like a middle aged man rushing to go to work in Beijing. The character starts off from being very hippy, crazy, and a little bit behind. Perhaps the man is rushing to work because he slept in too late! Later in the infusions, the tea turns very pure, almost like hot spring water with a light chicken broth aroma type of thing. It was going back to the original character;young times.

But, because the tea started off so bursting, it was a little difficult in keeping up with the pace. The lao ban zhang in the tea really pulled me off and started to make me feel incredibly dizzy and a little mumbly. I felt like the world is moving much slower than what I use to imagine. The bitterness does really kick in around the fourth or fifth infusion.

Wow, so dark. Only 10 years of age but almost like a 15 year old.

After the sixth infusion, I felt like I was about to crash on the couch. I skipped having more tea that night, and had a meal before bed. The next morning, I felt as if the tea was alive but much younger. Notes of Lilac, Bitterness, and longan was present. As Mr. Fung from the BTH always use to tell me that good tea, especially aged teas will go back in time and flavors will go back to its original condition as infusions pass. This is when I completely understood what he was saying.

The storage was another topic I should talk about if I wanted to get deeper into the tea. Surprisingly, I felt this tea was more of a wetter storage than dry, as I felt the tea being more aged than usual. The fermentation on this tea was far more greater than the other 10 year old Raw Pu Erhs I’ve tried over the years. It does make it more mellow and grounded, but at the same time I am not sure if the truly original characteristics were kept during the aging period and in the future, I hope that the fragrance keeps intact. This tea was very intense and made me feel kind of tea high, but was a great experience and a privilege. The huigan lasted in my mouth for more than 2 hours at least. Such an experience with a Lao Banzhang was a first-timer. I would give a Attitude Rank of 9 because it was such a unique feeling and experience, but not a complete 10. This is because I felt a little shocked and the storage wasn’t the purest. But, it was an amazing Pu Erh.

A special thank you to the owner of O5 tea, Pedro Villain for coming to Calgary, AB to the Mid-year Festival or Hantoshi Matusuri.
When I was staying in Vancouver; for around a year, O5 tea was there for me and my tea passion supporters. The staff there were amazing people with such big hearts, they where my leaders and examples as good tea people. They gave me confidence and work ethics on not only how to be a good human being but how to maintain relationships with customers and build trust within a team. So thank you to everyone from O5 Tea.

It was great to see you at the Jinja, making Japanese & Chinese teas were even better. He gave me some samples to taste and review, and this was one of them. Stay tuned for more reviews coming very soon.